1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved tremolo device for use with a stringed instrument such as a guitar. The invention also relates to a stringed instrument having an improved tremolo device.
It is often desired to provide stringed instruments with a tremolo device that allows the instrument to produce its normal tones, but also to produce a tremulous tone effect, by suitable operation of the tremolo device. Existing stringed instruments can also be modified with the tremolo device of the invention. The tremulous tone effects result from changing the tension on the strings of the instrument. While these effects can be produced with other stringed musical instruments such as violins, base guitars, cellos and banjos, the description will be directed to guitars, which include acoustical and electric guitars.
In a conventional guitar, comprised of a body portion, a neck portion and a head portion, the strings attached at the head portion of the instrument, pass over the neck portion of the instrument and then pass over a bridge located in the body portion, and are then attached to the body of the guitar with a tailpiece. When certain tremolo devices known in the prior art are employed, sufficient friction can develop in the mechanisms of their tremolo devices that the tremolo devices may not always return to their original position, thereby resulting in poor sound quality emanating from the guitar.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,461 to Stroh discloses a conventional tremolo device especially in FIG. 7, which provides for a complex mechanism involving upright block 34 and bore 35 for placement of the string 4. Installation of the Stroh device requires a massive cut into the body portion of the instrument.
The Stroh invention does not involve the tremolo device itself, but rather appears to center around changes in the bridge assembly, especially with respect to the saddle devices that engage the strings of the guitar. The Stroh improvements appear to relate to gear operated mechanisms in the saddle structure. Stroh discloses that these mechanisms are associated with saddle devices such as 37' in FIGS. 14, 17, and 18.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,493 to Schaller discloses a tremolo device similar to that of Stroh, but the disclosed invention appears to reside in device 60 of Schaller.
Other patents related to tremolo devices are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,466,962 (Cole) discloses a tremolo device having a handle or lever that can be operated by a guitar player so that it can be raised or lowered in a vertical plane as well as rotated in a horizontal plane, thereby causing a cradle member which carries a plurality of strings to be actuated so as to produce a lower pitch tone or raised pitch tone, thereby permitting playing in a different key.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,190 (Maloney) discloses a pitch raising system for a guitar providing a mechanical means to produce musical techniques usually performed manually. The preferred mode includes a pitch raising device and other elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,915 (Osaga) discloses a mechanism that is provided with a device against which the strings are pressed, and which is rotatable around a rotary shaft located between the bridge and the string-fixing part of the guitar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,936 (Steinberger) discloses a tremolo tailpiece which pivots around a pivot point and anchors one end of each string while varying the absolute pitch of the strings and maintaining the relative pitch of the strings during pivoting.